Posts Tagged ‘ESPN’

The weights are in for Saturday night’s Pound 4 Pound showdown between WBO super featherweight titlist Vasyl Lomachenko and Guillermo Rigondeaux. Both fighters were chiseled with the champion coming in at 129 pounds and the challenger at 128.25.

PREDICTION: I’ve gone back and forth on this fight since it was announced. Rigo’s sublime skills make him a hard night for any opponent, not to mention his underrated power and nimble footwork. However, this is the first fight where I feel there is a perfect storm that will lead to his first defeat.

Rigondeaux is 37 years old (allegedly), jumping two weight classes and has fought only three rounds in the last year. I would feel uneasy about those facts if he were fighting a lower Top 10 super featherweight, let alone going after the #1 guy at the weight in Lomachenko. Having fought and broken the will of bigger punchers in Nicholas Walters and Manuel Marriaga, I see Lomachenko being able to handle Rigo’s stinging shots and forcing a higher pace in the later rounds. Because Rigo sometimes squares up out of clinches, there’s an outside chance that Lomachenko could score a flash knockdown ala Donaire and Amagasa.

Expect a good start from Rigondeaux due to his counter punching with Lomachenko’s size and activity being the difference in the second half to earn a close but clear unanimous decision.

LAS VEGAS — In a clash of battle-weary veterans desperate for a career-reviving win, Gabriel Rosado made good on his vow to display his skills in dominating Glen Tapia with superb counter-punching in route to a sixth-round TKO at the Monte Carlo Resort and Casino.

A pattern emerged quickly over the first three rounds. Tapia would start the round strong by scoring with the right hand and getting inside with hooks to the body. Rosado would weather the storm and hurt The Jersey Boy with counter rights over the jab and mix in sneaky left hooks. Rosado implemented this strategy off the backfoot but would come forward with combinations anytime Tapia was stunned or backpedaled (which was often).

By the fourth round, Rosado knew he had a lesser fighter in his domain and unleashed every right hand with bad intentions. Tapia’s attempts to hold were pushed off. In the fifth, he was trapped on the ropes and had his head repeatedly snapped back by vicious overhand rights. Going inside for Tapia now proved equally dangerous with Rosado mixing in uppercuts.

The beating was written all over Tapia’s face — a growing hematoma on the left side of his forehead, bloody nose, and swollen lips. Referee Robert Byrd warned Tapia to “show him something” before the sixth.

The only thing Tapia could show was a fighter in need of being saved from himself. Rosado started the end with a lead left hook that exploited Tapia’s low guard. The latter staggered backward to the ropes and avoided a few follow-up rights before being sent to the canvas by another left hook. Tapia rose and tried to right back, but was rocked by several more rights before the bout was mercifully called.

***

Tapia would be wise to officially retire. Now at 23-5, he’s lost four straight (two by stoppage). Should he continue fighting, it likely won’t be under the banner of Golden Boy Promotions. In a truly macabre irony, Rosado’s win gives him the mantle of Golden Boy’s goto veteran for the meat-grinder, meaning the name opponent for its fledgling prospects, and potentially a stay-busy future opponent for its big-punching stars in Canelo or David Lemieux (who stopped Rosado in 2014).

Two weeks out from his big showdown against Danny Jacobs, WBA/WBC/IBF middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin appeared on ESPN’s First Take on rival Canelo Alvarez.

With Floyd Mayweather’s retirement, Canelo is now the sport’s biggest pay-per-view attraction. But while Golovkin concedes he would meet any Mayweather demand due to the latter’s Pound 4 Pound track record, he called Canelo “nothing” and a “selfish” fighter. The ill will stems from last year May when Canelo vacated the WBC middleweight over negotiating with Golovkin, who was the mandatory challenger and subsequently awarded the belt.

Golovkin also took a moment to address if he’d move to 168 or 175 to face Andre Ward. Do you agree with GGG’s comments?

Floyd Mayweather was in rare form during an appearance today on ESPN’s First Take. Mayweather addressed a myriad on topics on Conor McGregor, a Manny Pacquiao rematch and Gennady Golovkin.

On McGregor, Mayweather says he tried to make the fight but requires $100 million. As the A-side, he’s willing to give McGregor up to $15 million and negotiate a percentage on the pay-per-view numbers. The Pacquiao rematch and possibly facing Golovkin didn’t elicit much interest from Mayweather, who dismissed Pacquiao for having a boss and GGG for struggling with Kell Brook.

You may not like his demeanor, but not many lies were told. Mayweather is all about the business side of the sport and he’s mastered it better than any fighter in history. For that reason, he gets to call the shots in any potential matchup.

A Hip-Hop mystery has finally been solved. From the moment The Notorious B.I.G.’s posthumous Life After Death hit stores in March 1997, fans have been vexed by the anonymous Knicks player that was robbed and cuckolded by his woman on the narrative classic “I Got a Story to Tell.” A few years back on ESPN’s Highly Questionable, former Knick John Starks confirmed the story was based in truth but declined to name the “victim.” Today, Fat Joe reveals the name as none other than Knicks enforcer Anthony Mason.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with Mase, he was one of the toughest players in the 90s and built like a tank. For some, it’s hard to imagine him getting played like this, but someone having the drop of you with a gun is a great equalizer. Another thing to keep in mind, as Joe mentions, is rappers embellish everything to the extreme. What could have been Biggie running out the back door could easily morph into the more entertaining cheating turned stickup fiasco.

Whatever happened, credit to Biggie for displaying his greatness and turning it into a classic and at times humorous song (a basketball game getting rained out???). We’re left to imagine if Biggie would have kept Mase’s name a secret had he lived.

HIALEAH, FL — WBA junior middleweight titlist Erislandy Lara and challenger Jan Zaveck were on target for yesterday’s weigh-in. Lara is coming off a wide unanimous decision victory over Delvin Rodriguez in June. Zaveck is one a three-fight win streak with his last victory coming over Sasha Yengoyan in April.

PREDICTION: Zaveck is probably one of the toughest and most durable guys at 154, as evidenced from his performances against Keith Thurman and Andre Berto. But he needs someone willing to go to war with him and that’s not Lara (unless you have the foot speed to force him). Lara will be too elusive and frustrate Zaveck the entire night with his accurate straight left. LARA WIDE UD.